Flowers
by TheShoelessOne
Summary: Third in SENSE series. River looks different. Jayne takes notice. Oneshot, Rayne.


"You look lovely."

River held a hand absently to the hair that had been expertly coiled and knotted atop her head, spiraling curls running along her neck and dashed against her shoulders. A flickering smile took the girl's lips as she looked up at Inara. The hairdo had been unplanned and practically unexpected by either of them, but, as they say, the moment had caught them. Inara's perfect smile curled on her painted lips--always dressed for the occasion should it ever be brave enough to arrive. River's fingers twirled absently with the curls at her collar, and the smile returned, fuller.

"Thank you," she said.

"All the power in the 'Verse," Inara said as she slid off the bed beside her to rifle through a nearby chest, "and you're still a woman."

"Are women defined by the way they look?" River spoke to her bare feet, which still dangled off the side of Inara's bed in the extra shuttle. The sheets were soft as satin under her, and she wiggled slightly to sink further into them with a pleased little look.

"I'm afraid so," Inara sighed slightly, then perked up almost immediately as she found what she'd been looking for. "While I still have you in my clutches..." She held up the immaculate case of exotic make-ups she had always kept solely to herself and most didn't even know existed. For all the men's knowledge, the companion always arose with a perfect complexion and full, red lips. River looked away to her wiggling toes.

"Inara has wanted to trap the girl for ages," she mumbled, an unsure smile taking her. "Wanted to make her a woman."

"At least give you the chance to look like something besides a corpse." Inara pulled out a soft foundation that oddly seemed to match River's pale skin. River shied at first, then relented to the woman's touch. "Simon is a good doctor, but he's still a man. They don't understand that, sometimes... a girl just needs to feel pretty."

"Inara is beautiful, adorned with shades and silks to enhance her beauty." She closed her eyes at Inara's bidding as eye shadow and eyeliner were applied. "Kaylee is naturally gifted, needs nothing to adorn her to make Simon stare like a buffoon." Inara smiled at this, and River unthinkingly mirrored the movement, catching the amusement in Inara's thoughts. "Zoe is made of fire, and fire is beautiful and dangerous. The girl, however... She is a ghost that walks among flowers. Red rose, carnation, tiger lily..."

"Sweetheart," Inara cooed, brushing a fine blush across River's cheeks, "you're as much a flower as any of us are."

"A wilted, sunless flower. Pale white. No roots." She glanced up to Inara's disproving stare, and backed down. After moments in silence, Inara had finished and looked upon her work with an appreciative eye.

"Perfect," she told the girl, holding her shoulder. They both stood in unison, one reading the other's movements more than mind. "Now, why don't you go out there and show them just what kind of flower you are?" As encouraging as she had meant it to be, the actual meaning was that of abandonment. Inara would not walk with her creation and parade her. Part of River was swelled with a deep sense of independence, that she didn't need a crutch to lean upon. A different part felt new and exposed, like a new layer of skin had been added to her while she wasn't looking, not quite sure where to put her feet. But she nodded, offering her thanks once more.

They were all gathered in the galley and the surrounding lounge. She could feel that Captain spike unthinkingly as Zoe and Wash danced without movement to a song that had no words. Simon and Kaylee swam in each other's colors, simply talking, strangely comfortable together the further away from River Simon managed to get. The Shepherd and Jayne both were cloaked in muddled dark as they conversed. As casually as a psychic could manage, she walked into the galley and watched as the scene shattered to glass in her mind.

The actual reaction was nowhere near as violent. The Captain actually smiled, barely looking up from the book her was pretending to read as she entered. Zoe, standing behind her seated husband, straightened to her full height to glance at the newcomer in their midst, and recognition settled in her eyes.

Had the others not known that River had arrived in the room, they were notified as Jayne promptly fell from his chair. The recovery was quick for a man as large as he was, and he covered it up with an excuse fast as lightning. Not quick enough for River, who continued to pointedly ignore him with a smirk.

"Well, ain't you all trussed up?" Mal said as he shut the book and stood with arms crossed across his chest. "Anythin' special we should know about, or you just feel like knockin' Jayne across the floor this particular afternoon?" A low harumph the aforementioned merc and a barely suppressed giggle from River, who held a polite hand to her mouth.

"Inara trapped me," she said simply. Anything else was blotted out by an appreciative squeal from Kaylee as she approached from the corner.

"Hell's bells, River, you look cute enough t' eat!" she said as she was quickly at the girl's side, inspecting every twirl of her hair. Simon, having sidled up beside Captain Reynolds, smiled at his younger sister with a wide, happy smile he hadn't pulled out in quite some time. Shepherd Book chuckled slightly, shaking his head.

"That woman has wanted to catch you in that net of hers since she first met you, River," Book offered in his darkest voice. It wasn't as intimidating as he might have hoped.

"She's been after me like hellfire," Kaylee snickered as she inspected the back of River's hair. "She dolled you up nice and good--ya shine up like a new button!" She stepped back to admire Inara's creation, then jokingly elbowed Jayne in the ribs. "Ain't that right, Jayne?"

"Just surprised me, s'all," he muttered, purposefully keeping his eyes locked on the ground at his feet.

"Her new mask pleases Jayne," River offered as she cocked her head. Jayne's head snapped up, brimstone in his eyes enough to set a person's insides on fire. Wash unthinkingly flinched backward, even though the glare was not set on him. It settled straight on the pretty, crazy girl across the table from him. She didn't so much as flinch.

"I told you t' stay outta my head!"

Mal was more surprised to hear Jayne's vague confirmation of River's assumption than when he'd fallen off his chair.

"Jayne's thoughts rattle too loud in his big head." River's fingers twisted together before her, and the pink blush Inara had given her was joined with one that was completely natural. Jayne's mouth twitched into a fine line. Kaylee suddenly didn't like the tension in the room. She offered a nervous giggle, which fell utterly flat in the dead silence. She moved to Simon's side quickly, looking from Jayne to River and back again.

"At least I ain't prentendin' t' be somethin' I'm not," Jayne growled back, having thought up a good answer at last. River's eyebrows tilted upward in oncoming sadness.

"What is she pretending to be?" She could feel his answer, but she wanted him to say it, to make it real.

"Pretty," he spat back. Kaylee's face fell, and a cross look seized Simon's face. Even Zoe's eyebrows knitted as her fire gaze moved to the big merc. He stood unmoved, arms crossed and sturdy in his defense.

Her lip wobbled only once, and her fingers clutched each other until they shone white against her dark blue dress. She turned quickly away from the approaching arms of Simon, dashing toward the engine room, changing her mind, and heading like a flash of lightning for the hangar.

All eyes in the galley hung on the frowning figure of Jayne. He refused to look up from his feet. After another moment, he sat back down, speared an apple with his knife, and bit noisily into it. Unsurprisingly, it was Mal that spoke first.

"What the hell was that?"

"How'm I s'posed to know?" Jayne rumbled lowly in reply. "I ain't the one that's crazy."

Mal's voice was a dead thud in the following silence. "Apologize."

"What?" He looked up from the table with one cocked eyebrow.

"You heard me. That little girl ain't looked that happy in a long time, and you gotta go stick a pin in her balloon. Isn't exactly what I call polite."

"She said I had a big head, Mal."

"Ain't no excuse. Now, you go find her and you get to apologize. Don't even ask me what happens if you don't; I like to get creative and thinkin' on the spot don't give me much leeway."

Looking around the room for help didn't encourage Jayne any further, as every set of eyes he met stared back accusingly. A low growl of grudging acceptance, and he shoved himself away from the table, taking knife and apple with him.

"I ain't gonna like it!" He shouted back down the corridor over his shoulder as he left the room. Mal grinned victoriously.

He found her curled up beside the stack of heavy metal crates on the floor of the cargo hold. Little black lines marked her face from her eyes down to her chin. The wobbling had stopped, but her eyes were still wet, and drops clung to her eyelashes. Some of her hair had come down from its twisty little bun, and he knees were clutched close to her chest. Jayne sighed, nearly rolled his eyes, and approached.

"Cap'n says--"

"Don't need to apologize," River murmured quietly in a completely steady voice. She looked up at him with big brown eyes. "She is an abomination. No right to look like a real person. No right to be... pretty."

"Now you're puttin' words in my mouth," he said as he plopped himself down to sit beside her. "I ain't said none o' that. And I woulda come after you even if the Cap'n didn't make me."

Blinking, an unspent tear ran the length of her face. "Truth?"

"You bet your little upturned nose it is," he offered encouragingly. "See, y' just had me all flustered is all. Next time you decide t' get all fancy and made-up, warn a fella so he don't have a ruttin' heart attack."

The back of her hand wiped across one cheek, ridding it of tears and smudging the little black line that had formed there. She didn't yet smile, but it looked like the crying was most over.

"Inara told me that I was a flower." It was the most lucid sentence she seemed to have muttered all day. Jayne curled his lip slightly.

"If they got a mind-readin' flower somewhere I don't know 'bout..." He stopped his comment when she looked away back to her knees. "Hell, girl, you know I ain't good with talkin'. Why don't y' just say what you want me t' say?"

"What you really think of the mask Inara has given me."

"I ain't dumb enough t' forget you can tell what I'm thinkin'."

"Please?"

He shifted uncomfortably. This wasn't exactly the position he wanted to be in, especially not with what he had to say. He'd never been one to wax poetic on anything, let alone tell a girl how she looked. Especially when he could practically feel Mal and Simon glaring hot daggers at him from the galley.

"Y' look fine," he muttered. Even he knew that wasn't enough, and he'd never been very bright in telling a girl what she wanted to hear. "Y' look... pretty."

She blinked bright eyes up at him, mouth still not yet turned up in that pretty little smile she had a way of surprising him with.

"Truth?"

"Yeah," he offered, not glancing up at the eyes he knew were staring him down. He didn't offer anything else, but didn't move to leave either. A little sigh beside him, and River leaned her head gently against his shoulder.

"Jayne is pleased. I am pleased." Finally, like a wispy cloud on a clear day, her smile unfurled and graced her reddened lips.

He stared down at the top of her head for a good long minute, not saying or thinking much, with lips tight but eyes with a strange softness. After waiting quite long enough, Jayne released the pent-up tension slowly and leaned his back against the crate behind him. The girl moved with him, shifting to get more comfortable. A masking little 'harumph' from the man, who looked at his boots.

"_Flowers_," he mumbled, glancing again at the girl falling asleep on his shoulder. In a softer voice, "Gorram... little..."

* * *

AN: All right, here we are with the third in the series. I really like writing these little stories, even if it seems like no one reads them. I hope to finish this series out by the end of the month, if not before, because I just can't seem to stop writing. If my stuff is simply atrocious, please, let me know and I'll stop plaguing you. If not, leave some love to encourage me (not only am I doing this, but my finals are approaching rather rapidly). Thanks for reading, all you out there in the ether! 


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